Nokia backs Apple in their fight against Samsung

In the blink of an eye the technology landscape can change. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends. A company that’s dominating the market for a few years can become complacent and in turn need to fight for relevancy. So today we’ve got Nokia sticking up for Apple in the courtroom.

Earlier today, Nokia filed a brief to support Apple in their legal battle with Samsung. Right now Apple is working on getting a permanent injunction against a handful of Samsung handsets. Nokia is the only company not directly involved with the case to voice their opinion on the future outcome of the Apple vs. Samsung court battle.

The injunction that Apple is seeking against Samsung hit an obstacle when the presiding judge, Lucy Koh, ruled that the Cupertino company needs to establish a casual nexus between its patented feature and the demand for its phones if it wishes to obtain a permanent injunction.

The brief Nokia submitted was sealed for the court only, but a summary from Nokia clues us in on why they are supporting Apple. Basically Nokia fears that the ruling could cause a wide range of damage to the patent protection landscape here in the United States.

Nokia has a huge amount of mobile-related patents in its war chest. It’s inevitable that Nokia will be in the courtroom sometime in the future as either a defendant or plaintiff. By expressing support for Apple they are hoping to ensure a future precedent that favors them.

Any other armchair analysts want to chime in on what they think of this?

I don't know anything about that. The only thing that I read is when Nokia ordered screens from Samsung then later Samsung canceled the orders, and used Nokia's spec on their on phone. I don't know if it's true but the same thing Apple is claiming. If you look at Samsung before iPhone came out they could not produced any decent phones or O/S.

It makes sense. It seems like these types of issues were regulated by copyright in the past, but with this case, design patents are coming into the limelight. Therefore, this case could set a huge precedent specifically with regards to design patents, as opposed to utility patents, on which their is already a huge amount of case law to go on.

They will need to reform patent laws in the united states.....because consumers need to make use of some Nokia, apple, Samsung,rim and Motorola patents on a single device. And charging companies for using patents....well we all know who pays that bill

In the US court precedents can break or make a case, Lawyers study old cases very carefully to prove that a ruling was made before on the same or similar subject , and for some reason that ruling becomes a deciding factor (be it respect for old judges or not wanting to judge independantly.

The reason they rely on historical data is so you have a continuous and clear response from a legal stand. If every judge acted independently you could not have consistent laws and we would have Armageddon...this is the same everywhere. It takes a new ruling to set a new precedent which often has to go through numerous courts before being accepted. The weird thing to me in the states (Born in UK now live in Chicago) is how all the states have thir own independent laws which can trump federal laws.

It's not like that everywhere. Only in countries with Common Law (UK, USA, Australia, etc.). For example, in France, a judge can give a rat's ass about past rulings. They can take it into account, but it is optional, not mandatory. Same happens in Spain and Latin America. And yes, there are consistent laws in those places. Judges don't make laws; they are people who also make mistakes so I don't see the point in deciding a case just because some other judge thought that was the solution.

So who's wrong and who's right here? Android fans call it foul. Nokia fans says Nokia is doing the right thing. Just curious who the bad guy is. Or is there one? Regarding Apple, why are they so intent on Destroying Damsung when Google is what Steve Jobs wants to "nuke" badly.

Apple is going after Samsung because #1) a lot of people bought the Galaxy Tab 10.1 thinking it was an iPad. And #2) because there are leaked documents from Samsung's design team explaining how to copy iOS' design language.

Nokia is protecting their interest. The judge said that Apple needs to prove that people bought their products because their products had the technology or design that Samsung copied. Nokia is saying that creates a burden of proof that's too high. It would be incredibly difficult to show that people buy a product because of a particular feature.

I swear there is an article(possibly ran on here wpc) that stated that Nokia had stopped having Samsung manufacture certain parts because they have been delaying the delivery and then cancelling because they have been keeping the design, then introduced into their phones and passed it as their own.

No Apple won't do that; because Nokia pays Microsoft for a WP8 licence on every single WP8 phone it sells.. and Microsoft in turn pays or has paid Apple for whatever patent royalties are applicable (eg: kinetic bounce, ignoring a mistaken touch on a touch screen (this is a biggy) and a whole host of others related to UX). When manufacturers pay MS for a WP8 licence, they are in effect protected from patent royalty claims - this is a whole big part of the WP8 value proposition.

Maybe is not a bad idea , samsung is becoming a monster when it comes to the smartphone market and probably the only way to stop it would be an alliance and i can understand the feeling of apple and other companys especially when you hear that samsung has sold 40 millions of SGSIII.

Ooh dude I feel sorry for you... If you were gonna go Samsung, you might as well have gone Android, cause Samsung on Windows Phone is a piece of shit. Looks like shit, no support, no interesting exclusive apps, and no quality.

Its about time for Samsung to wrap up its copycat theories, they bring nothing new , its just beefing up specs, so galaxy S10 will be size of a 32" tv I guess with 10 core processor and 10gb ram and what ppl use that for ? Surfing Facebook :|

Terrible. The us patent system is a disaster. I'm a podcaster. Did you know a bunch of podcasters are being sued and shaken down by a patent troll who says he invented podcasting? Backing Nokia just because you have one of their phones in this situation is short sighted. This system the way it is could lead to the end of podcasts and a lot of other things you enjoy This is bad news

We need immediate patent and copyright reform. Nokia is very, very much in the wrong side of this fight.

Nokia has many patents that help develop mobil communication. They are protecting their patents and rightfully so. They think the judges ruling would make it difficult to protect their intellectual property. If you can't protect your research, companies will stop paying so much for research and wait for someone else to develope something and they will copy. No many of Apples patents are weak and are mostly about asthetic design that doesn't require much research. There need to be reform for these kind of patents.

I hope you realize that the reason why Nokia is backing apple is because Samsung has a history of telling Nokia and apple that they will make specific parts for them, then cancel.the order and a little while later Samsung has the exact same specification that their client had ordered.

It's funny how this has turned into a cross between a Survivor episode and a Grandmaster's chess match! LOL. We're picking alliances and removing knights to get to the queen (someone said earlier that it maybe Google that they're really after...) Meanwhile most ppl are just texting and Binging away without having a clue as to what goes on behind those "power" buttons...

Samsung really have gone down the drain. They used to make quality phones but now, they have such a wide range of phones, bringing a new model out now every few weeks thier quality is really slipping and they are getting cocky witht hier newly found marketshare. I ownt buy anything samsung again. Their phones look ugly, support a horrible OS which is android and build them to a really tight budget. Anyone search for S3 plastic crack ? Fractures of plastic on the chassis and near the camera due to poor quality materials. Yeah.

I find it funny that when Apple sued HTC & Samsung that a WIDE majority of users here dogged Apple for being patent trolls...now Nokia backs Apple against Samsung and Samsung is now the bad guy? Just because they haven't backed WP as much as Nokia (who has been paid to)? While I shouldn't be, I'm shocked to see such an abrupt about-face in these comments, but why wouldn't WP have it's share of OEM fanboys as well?

Well, I never backed Samsung, nor HTC for that matter, and will never spend my money on any of their products (mobile, appliances, etc). I don't have any Apple products (yet), but I don't hate Apple and totally understand why they want to protect their IP.

Nokia has always make great phones, for me, and their IP is a treasure trove of goodness. If they see fit to support Apple, who am I to say they shouldn't?